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Thursday, November 24, 2016

South Korea Fall Trip - Pre-vacation Preparation and Total Expenditure

Annyeong haseyo!The most used Korean word during our 8-day trip to South Korea 😆. Teruja jumpa Koreans dan paling teruja looking at their surprised faces bila disapa oleh foreigners in their language 😜. When they responded in Korean, kami pula ternganga tak paham, LOL!Post ini khas untuk my friends who asked me to share details about my preparation and total expenditure of our trip. All the expenditures that I present here is for 3 adults and 2 children. Saya travel bersama suami, anak sulung (16 years old), 9 years old dotter and 5 years old son. First kita tengok pre-vacation preparation dulu.Musim-musim di South KoreaSukacita dimaklumkan (walaupun anda semua dah sedia maklum hehe) South Korea ialah negara 4 musim. Selalunya Malaysians suka melawat Korea pada musim winter, spring dan fall. Jarang Malaysians travel to Korea during summer sebab summer di sana panasnya mengalahkan panas Malaysia. Jadi plan your vacation according to your objectives, kalau aim nak main salji travel during winter, kalau aim nak tengok cherry blossom and tulips, do visit the country during spring and if you want to see the golden fall foliage make sure to be there during fall season. Basically winter season runs from Dec to Feb, Spring from Mac to May, Summer Jun to Ogos, and Fall is from September to November.

Passport

We do not need Visa to enter Korea
but valid passport only. Make sure your passport still has remaining life of
at least 6 months during the travel period. Saja depa nak kasi kita senang pi
melancong and pi perabih pitis kat negara depa. The cost for passport renewal (for 5 years) is RM200 for adult and RM100 forchildren
below 12 years old. Make sure sampai Immigration Department awal-awal
pagi, kalau tidak jenuh la nak tunggu passport siap. Kami renew passport
di Jabatan Imigresen Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor. Alhamdulillah we were
among the earliest that day so we did not wait long. At 10am our passports
were ready to be picked.

Flight ticketsYang ni kena rajin check Skyscnanner. Better yet, register dengan Skyscanner, masukkan tempat yang nak dituju dan tarikh and it will update us on reduced flight tickets from time to time via emails.As for us, we flew with Air Asia X - of course! Now everyone can fly 😝

The flight was booked in January
2016 when the Air Asia had their promotion and we travelled in November. Owh yes, we waited 10 long months and 10
days for our trip. Lama sungguh! But it’s worth it! Because last minute booking
can cause huge difference! Kalau last minute booking tu better choose other
airlines such as MAS, Vietnam Airlines or Korean Air. Masa kami beli tiket tu Air Asia was having their promotion. The the one-way flight ticket from KL-Seoul was RM299 and from Seoul-KL was RM350. Make sure ambik checked in luggage especially if you plan to bring food sebab food tak dibenarkan masuk cabin luggage. We bought 20kg checked in luggage from KL-Seoul (RM89) and 25kg checked in luggage from Seoul-KL (RM99). Of course balik kena lebih! And yet, 25kg was not enough! Bila timbang total weight for 2 bags was 27kg..jenuh kami buka beg and took out a few stuff to ensure the weight does not exceed 25kg! Fuh!

Also, purchase your meal online as they offer meals at lower price for online booking. The KL-Seoul journey takes about 6 hours and 20 minutes. Make sure beli makanan otherwise laporrr tahap gaban. Air Asia buat 2 kali jualan makanan sepanjang trip iaitu 2 jam after take off and 2 hours before landing. Saya cuma beli satu kali meal (one meal for each of us) sahaja untuk five of us. Total flight and in-flight meal for 5 of us was RM3631.40.

Since Malaysia does not experience the seasons except durian season and banjir season
(LOL!) the trip excite the kids very much. They had been counting days for the
trip since January and it was very tiring at times to answer Umar’s question
“when will November be mama?” “Is today November already?” LOL!Travel insurance

We purchased travel insurance with
Etiqa. Owhhh yes! We need this for emergency cases especially when travel with small
kids. Besides, winter temperature could cause health problems such as flue,
asthma, fever etc for we are not used to cold weather. Ye lah kan the last time
I remember experiencing winter was in 1997 when I was pursuing my bachelor
degree in the States! Lama sungguh!

During our stay in Seoul the
temperature ranged from -2’C to 8’C.Alhamdulillah no one got hurt or sick during our
8 day vacation. Batuk sikit tu adalah. Biasalah tu kan bila bertukar cuaca. We
bought Platinum Family plan with Etiqa for 8-day travel period. For those with
smaller budget, Etiqa also offers Family Silver plan for as low as RM50 per
family (Yes! It is per family not per individual) (for 6- to 10-day travel
period). This is free ad for Etiqa. Yes, you’re most welcome Etiqa! 😜

AccomodationYang ni book awal-awal dari Malaysia ya. Bila saya baca blog Seoul trip, ramai yang suggest to stay in Iteawon area. This area is like Bayswater area in London where halal food are easily available. Walau bagaimanapun, setelah dibandingkan bilik yang sama pada masa yang sama (ewahhh macam Trivago lak 😝), we chose to stay at Namdaemun Guesthouse (boleh guna credit card, some GHs do not have payment via cc facility, so make sure to ask the host in advance if you wish to use cc for room payment).Namdaemun Guesthouse.

The decision to stay at this GH was
based on good reviews from previous Malaysian travelers. Boleh add the host
Boyoung Chae at FB for easy communication and information.

We chose GH over hotels because of convenience
reason as it allows guests to cook, do the laundry and also for its competitive
room rates. As Muslim food is available only in certain areas such as Itaewon,
preparing our own healthy (healthy la sangat haha) halal food has become our number one terms and
conditions when choosing a place to stay in Seoul. Plus, the host offered 10%
discount for a stay exceeding 6 nights. Initially we chose to stay in a room
with 2 bunk beds at a rate of KRW80,000 per night for 7 nights. However, in
October we were contacted by the host telling that the room we booked was going
to be renovated and he asked if it was okay to transfer us to 2 rooms
(1 double room and 1 triple room) without any extra charges. What a great offer! Two bigger rooms for the same
price? Should we linger on our decision? I don’t think so! Nope! Unhesitantly,
we just replied “Yes!” Alhamdulillahhhh..rezeki 😇

It was a very nice stay. Boleh masak, pinggan for muslims are provided. Juice, milk, bread, cereals, coffee and tea are provided for free all day long...all day long okay bukan masa breakfast sahaja! Free laundry, siap sediakan sabun cuci from 10am to 10pm everyday. Ada balcony for BBQ. Private bathroom, LCD TV...pendek kata puas hati! Highly recommonded to stay here if you plan to visit Seoul for you next vacation. The GH is only 1 subway stop (Line 4) from Seoul station but we were lucky that day as the host, Boyoung, generously offered free pick up from the Seoul station. Thank you Mr Boyoung! To get to this GH - Hoehyeon station Exit 1 or 3. Warning, reaching this GH from subway station takes around 5 minutes walking along the hilly road. Do wear appropriate shoes dan stamina kena kuat! But we like it! Seoul walk is good for weight management indeed haha! Balik Malaysia our body weight reduced 1 kg despite lots of eating to keep us warm in accomodating the cold Seoul weather.

T-money is a rechargeable card just
like Touch-and-Go card in Malaysia. Can be used to pay for our purchases in
convenience stores and also for subways, buses and taxis. A must-have card for each
family member for super convenient journey. The price for each T-money is
KRW2500 (the card price is not refundable but the amount reloaded in the card
is). Make sure to reload the card before using. Can be reloaded at the vending
machine. The balance in the card can be refunded depending on the balance. If
the balance is KRW20,000 or less, the refunds can be made at T-money affiliated
convenience store such as GS25, CU or 7E. If more than KRW20,000, the refund must be made at
T-money headquarters which is located just outside Seoul Station Exit #8, Seoul
Subway Lines 1 and 4.

Tip: How to get free T-money with
KRW2000 reload amount?

Rajin-rajin lah visit http://www.visitkorea.com.my/ to check on their latest offer.
The T-money is given for free by participating in their survey. Each traveller
must answer the survey questionnaire and submit all the particulars needed to
get free T-money. We saved KRW12,500/RM48 on our T-money cost here plus a total
of KRW10,000/RM38 on our top-ups! They also provided travellers (independent
sahaja, group guided travellers are not applicable) with a coupon booklets.
Dapatlah discount coupon for reduced Arex fare from Incheon to Seoul, theme
park entrance fee, dining at selected restaurants and many more!

When you reach Incheon International Airport, do not forget to collect subway map at Tourist Information counter, located at Public Area, 1st floor, near exit 5 and Public Area, 1st floor near exit 10. Boleh juga install Seoul subway map and T-money balance checker kat phone masing-masing.

Currency exchangeDuring our trip, the currency exchange rate was RM3.775 for KRW1000. It
was quite high (sad face). Most places accept credit cards too so make sure to
have a huge amount available in the card for shopping and accommodation
(hoyehhh). Do call your bank to activate your credit card for oversea usage. Do activate your ATM card for oversea withdrawal too! Manalah tau tak cukup bawa duit won dan rambang mata shopping 😂

I changed our RM at Midvalley Megamall. So far they offer the cheapest
rate. So I have heard! We also brought our pounds and euros (balance from our
trip to London and Italy in March) to Seoul for emergency cases (prepare untuk shopping tah hengat dunia la tu!) .

Lupa nak ambik gambor egg wifi dia. Well, this not compulsory as Seoul is
pretty much a wonderland of free wifi in almost everywhere, at subway stations,
coffee shops, guesthouses, hotels, randomly on the street, restaurants. The
only thing you need is to ask for the wifi password. However, since we traveled
with kids and Umar needs to be entertained with his favourite cartoons (Upin
Ipin of cozzzz) and games to keep him distracted (kalau tidak penat kami kena layan dia),
we decided to rent a pocket wifi (known as Egg wifi). Besides, there are always
occasions when we got lost in the middle of the city and desperately need to
use the Google map so the Egg wifi really saved our day!

Tip: Do the booking online before
departing for Seoul as we could waive the KRW3000 device rental but only to pay
the wifi rate at KRW5000 per day for unlimited data usage. The wifi can be
connected to 3 devices simultaneously. Collect and return station is at the
Incheon International Airport. Please take note that a deposit of KRW200,000 is required upon
collecting of the Egg of which must be paid by credit card. They do not take
cash for the deposit. The deposit is refundable upon returning the Egg in good
conditions. So take a good care of the Egg, do not break it, do not lose it or
else some amount will be deducted from the deposit.

OthersBring your own pens, senang nak isi information on arrival card dan traveler declaration form. Have all the information such as passport number, flight number and the address of your accommodation ready with you.

Total expenditure (3 adults and 2 children)I listed the total expenditure for 5 of us for our 8D7N stay in Seoul. I did not list expenditure on shopping and miscellaneous spending (i.e. I forgot my lip balm, hubby forgot his hair gel, suddenly my dotter wanted to have new hair clips as a few Korean Ahjuma kept on misidentified her as a boy, LOL!) I only listed necessary expenditure sahaja ya. Untuk shopping on souvenir and also for self-rewards , well, it depends on your budget. Bawa la extra dalam RM5000 to RM10,000 😅.

If travelling without kids, perhaps you can save a lot on snacks and street food and also on egg wifi rental. The egg wifi renatl is not compulsory as lots of places in Seoul offer free wifi. Note that the calculation is based on the exchange rate (at time of our trip) of KRW1000 = RM3.775.

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Assalamualaikum and Holla!

95% of the entries in my blog are recipes, the rest are about my family. All the recipes here are what I've tried and tested, I love cooking and trying new recipes very very much. Most of the recipes are from my mom, my MIL, cooking books and magazines, friends, internet, as well as through words. Some are my own try-and-error recipes. Most are excellent, some are good, and a few are 50-50.

If you try the recipes that I posted here feel free to leave your findings and comments. If they are tasty and you like them then I'm happy. If otherwise, I apologize in advance coz I'm just a regular, imperfect, lack-of-knowledge-that-cook-only-for-her-family-and-friends cook. All of the posts here are free for you to cut and paste and re-post in your blog if you have one, but please put a back-link to this page and spare me some credit.

I hope this blog will help you a little if not much. Enjoy blogwalking and Thank You for visiting!

Thank You My Dear Followers

About Me

Full name is Asliza. A wife to a loving husband, a working mother to three kids, a daughter to the most supportive and caring mother, and a lecturer to beloved various types of students. Have a very tight schedule with works at the office and home, but love cooking and trying new recipes very very much. Know more about me here.